الخرطوم القديمة بنات....علي مر الدهور والازمنة

Quote: Dear Mawlana Adil. Many thanks for your emails. Thanks for shedding some light on the late Ms. Matilda's illness during our association with her. In fact I was certain about her condition but was unsure on how would you feel about me bringing back memories of your beloved mother’s illness and at the same time was cautious that this could make you feel ill at ease with this subject. You wanted to know more in depth about our time at (Alkhartoum Althanawia Banat) with late Ms. Matilda. This is very important because it had been a life long learning experience to our group at that time. Our group grew up and shared these experiences and we are still in touch with each other and we have maintained a close friendship. In 1977 we knew about Ms. Matilda's illness when she came to teach us in (Talta Mahdi). During her time with us she never mentioned to us that she was suffering from cancer or had a major operation, but we were fully aware of that. During our final year at the school (Alshihada Alsudania) she was never absent from lessons or off sick. She was a strong and cheerful woman who treated us with a great deal of respect and even when late arrivals came to the class she used to welcome them with a smile and ask them to join the class and find a place to sit down. Your mother never scolded, punished or humiliated anyone, which was totally in sharp contrast to other members of the teaching staff. Her attitude taught us to motivate ourselves and learn with respect. In return we found ourselves chasing her history lessons and make all efforts not to miss them. Because we spontaneously and deeply recognised the value of what we were learning from her, further more we became aware of our worth and first of all because we highly valued her. She used to be very sympathetic with our friend and classmate Salwa Hussein Habib, a talented basket ball player and an intelligent girl who used to be constantly stretched by training and matches demands from her sport club (Nadi Al Osra then) against their rival Al Hilal basketball team (girls) and she had always kindly advised Salwa to pay more attention to her studies, bear with her and show patience and understanding to Salwas's complex role and the demands made upon her. Allah yar hamma, she was a distingished woman well advanced of her time and ahead of her peers on her own ways. I believe that if Salwa Hussein were here, she herself would say a lot more about your mother. Due to many of her intervention, this is why many of my classroom mates and I of that time now remember everything about Ms. Matilda; in details. Including that she had a son called Adil who she often used to mention with pride to us in the classroom and refer to him as a high achiever and a good example, and if I recall would I be correct in thinking that Adil was the only child, older son or only son for her???????? Here, we are talking 30 years back when cancer was relatively rare and people used to be healthier and not often one would hear of people who were very ill. Ms. Matilda was terminally ill and was medically certified then; that she only had few years to live, yet, Ms. Matilda was standing out there teaching and giving us inspiration and motivation. In our class Talta Mahdi we often used to discuss Ms. Matilda, we saw her as The First and Only woman/person who was ill with cancer and not lying in a sick bed waiting for her day, as this was the attitude and perception in the society 30 years ago. Instead, she was a real icon and a brave woman of her time. The whole atmosphere around her is strong and positive and what she had brought to us then was positivity and real life experience. For us History lessons became not just education but a learning experiences most of all. None of us would miss a lesson because ultimately it would be one's own loss of quality learning time. During History lessons we would sit breathless connected with all our senses, and listen to her while she demonstrated a strong charismatic presence, knowledgeable and made our lessons fun. I remember Khala Haja Kashif Badri (a leading woman activist), Allah yah-faza said to me at that time: “Now you have got Matilda coming to teach you history of the Sudan, so you have no excuse not to score high marks and get into University of Khartoum”. This said it all. For our group at that young, tender and relatively naïve age, this was our first encounter in life to meet and see a role model living with cancer who was fully active living her life normally with great courage, high spirits, very optimistic and most importantly with immense dignity which was spent dedicating her time and unlimited efforts to her pupils. Ms. Matilda was the woman who planted the seeds of knowledge and helped us achieve the philosophy that she herself believed in that, “If life takes a bad turn or the going gets tough then one must take a positive attitude with full faith”. By living and setting the example, she taught us this lesson first and brought to us lessons that we could apply to our own real life experiences. Alf rahma wa gufran alyeek ya sit Matilda.